A number of Onkaparinga residents are asking if the City’s caravan parks can be used for longterm accommodation during the housing crisis.

The City of Onkaparinga owns the caravan parks at Christies Beach and Moana.

Former Councillor Yvonne Wenham, who now moderates the Onkaparinga Watch Facebook group told ABC Radio Adelaide that some residents are wondering why the caravan parks were nearly empty at the moment and not being used to house people needing a place to live.

“That would seem like a temporary solution to a big problem,” she said. “But these restrictions on timeframes on people being able to stay in a caravan park are creating additional challenges for people to be able to use them.”

Acting Onkaparinga Mayor Simon McMahon says the parks are governed by the Residential Parks Act of 2007 which requires them to be deemed a holiday park.  He said this meant people could only stay in a park for a maximum of 30 days at a time.

He suggested residents could hop from one park within the city to the other but confirmed there was a 120-day limit at each park for each calendar year under the state legislation.

Mr McMahon said 18 sites at Moana were now put aside for long term living, which was 15% of the total visitor capacity.

He said the issue should be discussed with local members of parliament as changes would need to be made to the state legislation to allow longer stays.